At that moment, thousands of miles away was a small city with no real name. It was not a big place, roughly the size of a small county town in the original world.
But it still fell within the Federation's territory, in a relatively remote part of the Douluo Continent.
Its warehouse district had been deserted for nearly ten years. Normally, not even a stray dog wanted to come here.
But tonight was different. Tonight, the place was unusually lively.
More than a hundred people lay sprawled across the ground. Some were still groaning, while others had already lost consciousness.
Well, quite a few appeared to be dead.
The air was filled with a nauseating stench of burnt flesh and blood.
The warehouses, once reasonably imposing, were now toppled and shattered across the ground.
Yes, shattered across the ground. Many of the walls had been smashed to rubble and roasted to charcoal.
A beautiful, sexy woman sat atop the highest section of broken wall. Barefoot, she swung her legs back and forth, a strawberry lollipop in her mouth.
The night wind lifted her long black hair, and that figure... tsk, tsk... perfection...
Well... how should one put it? She was the type you could never forget after a single glance, the type who would set your imagination running wild.
Na Nali bit into her candy and looked down, smiling with sheer delight.
"Oh, Little Yulai."
"Slow down a little. What's the rush?"
"Look at you. You burned that old man to a crisp. How pitiful."
She sucked on her candy as she spoke, her tone lazy.
"Honestly, look at your figure. A sexy young woman like you, fighting and killing all day long-how are you ever going to get married?"
Leng Yulai, who was busy below, abruptly stopped what she was doing when she heard that.
Her purplish-red eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"Na Nali."
She squeezed the three syllables through her teeth.
"One more word, and I'll burn you too."
"Oh?"
Na Nali was not afraid in the slightest. She even patted her chest in an utterly unconvincing gesture. "Come on, come on. Let's see you try burning me."
"The boss hasn't said anything to me, so why are you getting all worked up?"
"If you ask me, that temper of yours isn't the problem."
Na Nali deliberately drew out her words. "You're in heat, aren't you?"
"..."
Leng Yulai took a deep breath.
Once, twice, three times.
Calm down. I can't stoop to this woman's level. Getting angry at her isn't worth it.
...But damn it, I'm really angry!
Leng Yulai's movements grew even more vicious. She chose to vent her anger on this group of "pitiful" Evil Soul Masters.
Purple flames poured from her palm. An Evil Soul Master charging straight at her was burned to ash before he could even cry out.
Not much ash was left, either.
Well, she could actually burn them a little longer. After all, what if they were playing dead?
Just then, two absurdly powerful presences burst out of the innermost building in the warehouse district.
Two figures hovered in midair.
A man and a woman, both wearing black cloaks and ghost masks.
Their Soul Power fluctuations were at rank ninety-five.
Super Douluo.
What was more, the faint glow of Battle Armor surrounded them. They were Three-Word Battle Armor Masters.
Na Nali poked her head over the broken wall, took a glance, then sat back down.
She sucked on her lollipop and said casually:
"Oh, two little grasshoppers are here."
The faces of the two who had just floated out below turned green when they heard that.
Little grasshoppers?
They were elders of the Holy Spirit Cult! Rank ninety-five! Three-Word Battle Armor!
They were renowned figures across the entire continent.
And this woman had called them little grasshoppers?
Actually, to be fair, if you had become an Evil Soul Master in the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King and still weren't even a damn Limit Douluo, then you really had been wasting your time.
Didn't they know that in Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, "Titled Douluo walk all over the place, and Limit Douluo are worth less than dogs"?
By the time they fought the Abyss in the later stages, even Limit Douluo had become expendable.
"Bitch! You're courting death!"
The male Evil Soul Master flew into a rage and roared, immediately releasing his Martial Soul.
The illusory image of a skull emerged behind him, and nine Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet.
The woman was no slower. A cloud of blood-red mist spread from her body.
Na Nali remained seated on the wall, unmoving.
She turned her head and glanced at Leng Yulai, who stood beside her.
"Little Yulai, are you going, or am I?"
Leng Yulai said nothing. She did not even turn her head, disdaining to answer the question.
She merely raised her hand slowly.
Martial Soul, release.
The enormous illusory image of a phoenix unfurled behind her.
Its entire body was dark purple, its feathers burning with ultimate darkness flames. It looked thoroughly sinister.
Nine Soul Rings rose one by one from beneath her feet.
Red.
All red.
Nine hundred-thousand-year rings.
The two Super Douluo who had just released their Martial Souls were dumbstruck at the sight of those nine red rings.
Nine red rings?
What did that mean?
Was she even fucking human?
Leng Yulai activated her Ninth Soul Skill.
"Ultimate Dark Phoenix, Annihilation."
Her voice was soft.
So soft it could barely be heard.
But the entire warehouse district fell silent at that moment. Everything returned to nothingness, utterly quiet.
The enormous dark-purple phoenix let out a low cry.
Then it beat its wings.
An invisible wave of darkness particles spread outward in every direction, centered on Leng Yulai.
Those two Super Douluo.
They did not even manage to cry out.
Their bodies, their Martial Souls, their Three-Word Battle Armor, the warehouses beneath them, everything around them.
After that wave swept over them.
Gone.
Truly gone.
A section of the entire warehouse district had been forcibly wiped off the map.
All that remained was a crater over a hundred meters across, as smooth as a mirror.
Na Nali sat on the broken wall, her lollipop nearly falling out of her mouth.
She stared blankly for a long while.
Then she looked down at the crater, and back up at Leng Yulai standing beside her, looking as if nothing had happened.
"...Holy shit."
She muttered under her breath.
"Little Yulai, wasn't that a bit too ruthless?"
"The whole base is gone. You didn't even leave a single intact corpse."
"Great. The higher-ups are bound to notice now."
Na Nali jumped down from the broken wall and dusted off her skirt.
She leaned close to Leng Yulai, lowered her voice, and grinned mischievously:
"The boss said you weren't allowed to be this ruthless."
"You're done for now. The boss will definitely punish you."
"Tell me... how do you think the boss will punish you?"
Her tone could not have been more suggestive.
Leng Yulai's face flushed red in an instant.
She put on a brave front. "I... what am I afraid of?"
"I didn't do anything wrong."
That was what she said.
But her legs involuntarily pressed together.
The blush on her face spread all the way to her ears.
Seeing this, Na Nali laughed even harder.
"Oh, my, my. Whose face is so red?"
"Were you thinking about something you shouldn't have?"
"Na Nali, shut up!"
Flustered and furious, Leng Yulai swung a palm at her.
Na Nali laughed and dodged.
Na Nali turned away, her smile gradually fading as she bit down hard on her lollipop.
Damn it, Leng Yulai! Hmm... if I did that, would the boss punish me too?
The two continued their banter as their figures gradually disappeared into the night.
About half an hour later.
A group of uniformed officials arrived in a hurry.
They stared at the crater over a hundred meters across, each drawing a sharp breath.
"Holy shit, what level of battle was this?"
"Titled Douluo at least?"
"No, wait. How could a Titled Douluo have this kind of destructive power..."
"Quick! Report it! Hurry and report it!"
Meanwhile, atop an inconspicuous high-rise across the way.
A dark figure stood silently in the shadows.
He stared at the distant crater for a long time.
Then he raised his head and let out a long laugh at the sky.
His laughter was hoarse and grating, as if he had a mouthful of thousand-year-old phlegm.
"Heh heh..."
"The two pillars of my Holy Spirit Cult have actually been taken away."
"And they've grown even stronger..."
"Quasi-God... Demigod..."
There was a hint of amusement in the dark figure's voice.
"It seems it's time to find out what that kid is really capable of."
As his words fell.
He vanished from where he stood.
As if he had never existed.
At that moment, Qing Linyun and Wu Changkong were walking side by side on the way back to the academy.
They had just finished eating, and their stomachs were full.
The evening breeze felt quite pleasant.
Wu Changkong walked on his left, hands in his pockets, looking as cool and aloof as ever.
But his steps were slower than usual.
Neither of them said a word.
They just walked.
"Senior brother, are you really not coming back with me?"
Wu Changkong gave Qing Linyun an indifferent glance.
"You're already here, so what do you mean, going back? Of course I have to finish teaching them."